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• Part 1: The Epic Begins
  
  
• Part 2: The Team Has Assembled
  
  
• Part 3: First Day on the Ice
  
  
• Part 4: Morning with the Moon and Sun
  
  
• Part 5: The Most Stunning Landscape Available on Earth
  
  
• Part 6: Eighty-one Degrees
  
  
• Part 7: About Those Bears
  
  
• Part 8: Sailing Through the Ice Pack
  
  
• Part 9: Three Amazing Artists
  
  
• Part 10: He Walked Right Up to the Ship...
  
  
• Part 11: Updates from September 5
  
  
• Part 12: Updates from September 6
  
  
• Part 13: Wednesday Evening, September 9
  
  
• Part 14: Sunset in Greenland
  
  
• Part 15: Saturday Night with David Doubilet and Jen Hayes
  
  
• Part 16: An Image That Will Forever Be Impressed Upon Our Collective Memories
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• Part 17: Farewell to a Successful Journey

Part 8: Sailing Through the Ice Pack

Posted: Friday, September 4, 2015

​Sailing through the pack ice has been spectacular — particularly when the sun peeks through the clouds and gives us some light! After spending 4 hours observing and photographing a polar bear with a seal kill (and the birds who were trying to sneak in for some scraps), everyone is keen to do it again today.

Since there are no names for where we were yesterday, we recorded some Global Positioning System (GPS) points at various times during the day, so that you can see where we spent our time (in case you haven’t been able to check our “In-Reach website”: share.delorme.com/ElysiumArctic). The GPS points are in decimal degrees, so if you want them in degrees, minutes, and seconds, you can do a web search for a “calculator” that will convert them. For more information about GPS, see the short video below.

Time, Latitude, Longitude, Note:

8:29 a.m., 81 24.528’ N, 20 12.319’ E

10:38 a.m., 81 28.362’ N, 19 49,535’ E

11:18 a.m., 81 29.570’ N, 19 42.369’ E

11:55 a.m., 81 30.449’ N, 19 35.046’ E, saw a bunch of harp seals swimming together

12:59 p.m., 81 32.384’ N, 109 15.262’ E

2:37 p.m., 81 33.187’ N, 18 44.542’ E, thanks to the eagle eyes of the staff a polar bear and its kill has been spotted (its really far away!)

4:48 p.m., 81 33.643’ N, 18 33.129’ E, close enough to the polar bear to take great photos and a great number of photos!

5:19 p.m., 81 33.490’ N, 18 34.111’ E

Science in Seconds: The Global Positioning System (GPS): What exactly is the Global Positioning System or GPS? This short video provides a thumbnail sketch of how this technological marvel can help you find any place on Earth! ​

Notes: We are still on Longyearbyen, Svalbard time zone. The first two numbers of each latitude and longitude number are the degrees – I wasn’t sure if I inserted the degree symbol if it would translate to different fonts, so I left it out.

This morning the air temperature is 37.4 degree Fahrenheit (-3 degrees Celcius) and the ship resumed its northerly course around 6:30 a.m. All eyes will be on deck looking for polar bears, whales, and birds again today. If we can find some stable ice this afternoon, we may be able to land a few people and do some filming.

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